Nested food carrying equipment



NESTED FOOD CARRYING EQUIPMENT Filed May 1, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Invemior HarzyM-Bzzoyer March 13, 1945.

H. M. BADGER ET AL 2,371,578

NESTED FbOD CARRYING EQUIPMENT Filed May 1, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 21222;122:202 H022?" Mflaargrer 0501: 7' J72 uier 9 m a? 20 Patented Mar.13, 1945 a 371,578 'mzsrsn roon oAnRYmG' EQ mMEN'r I Harry Badger. andoscar'MmAndei-son. New g Britain,,Conn., assignors to Landers, Frary=& yl

Clark, New 'Britain, nn., a corporation of Applicationll/layil,Ii1943,Serial No.-485382 This inventionv relates sto ffo'od rcontainets and"has .particularreference:tovan improved ;-arnangemerit wherebyanysnumber-nfxthe:containers may be simply securedlto'gether'linisuperimposedzra The "invention particularly aadapted forxuse :inrconnection 'wi'th insulated jugs or jars each havinglansnuter wall:

lation J for carrying purposes.

and :an inner wall. err-vessel; I thecspace between the .walls being.insulatediby -assuitable irrsulat ing material or 'by lpr'ovidinga;partial -vacu11m therebetween. a a t 1 v =Anaim of the inventiomis-itoprovideaasimplified' and: economical arrangement byi mean'siof' whichthe several jarszmay'be .very1:quickly and automatically locked togetherlbyisimplyfnesting one on topof anotheralid, whenfisolockedg theassembly of jars may -.be .carried :from place to dric'al j-wall -I 0.Welded--'or otherwise secured to place by the handle provided lon 'theitopmostlone without danger of the jars becoming iiiscom' nected. Whenit. is desiredto:disconnectrthe jars or containers one .'.from.-theother, thisca'n be veryquickly andeasily done. v v ."A .further. aim :ofthe'invention is to provide a cgntaineri'with-ian. improved 'handlearrangement: w ich will-permit the handle to be'ireadily swungthe"inside or the mage I=4 is a reinforcing band I5. Thebottom-closure-member may be secured in place by turning'the b'ottomedge of the wall I0, as at Myab'out'the bottom edgesof thefiange 1 I4"and" the band I 5. The" space between the" side and bottom wallsof-"thecasing t ancl' the vessel I2 may contain a suitable insulatingmaterial, not shown, or the air may 'be drawn-out of this space so asto'provide -a=partial vacuum. It will be "seen that' e'ach1'1'1g,-at*th'e bottom thereof, has a' compartment-open at its 'b'ottomso that when one jug-is nested upon -a lower one, -the bottomcompartment=of the upper jug will accommodate the upper end and the Ihandleof I the lower "jug; "The lower end of the side wall Ill,

the flan-ge of the closure member; and the band I B- con stitute*adepending skirt-which forms the cylindrical wall of" this compartment.At the juncture of the cylindrical-"wall I 9 and the topwall I l-ioi-the'casing is a slight step or inset so as to provide a shoulder or seat onwhich into andiout of operative -position-and, when' in operativeposition, will resiliently hold the cover of thecontaineragainstilisplacementl l Other objects will :be in -part obvious and-in partpointed out morein detail hereinafter;

Thefinvention accordingly consists in the features of construction,combination of --elements,-

and arrangement of pa'rts which will be --examplified in:theconstruction hereafter setforth and the scope of the applicatlon ofwhieh will' be' indicated in the appended-claims.

' In the accompanying drawings, wherein have shown, for illustrativepurposes,'='one -em-'- bo'diment whichthe" present invention='may't-ake:r I Figure 1 isa side elevational view, withfpa'rts broken away, of'anassembly-df.two 'contalners or insulated jars providedwithourimprovements;

rig. 2 is a sectional'view -taken-on line "2- 2- of- Fig. 1 and showsthelower jar in plan elevation and the bottom kirt of the upperjar-inherizontal section ;v and. v

Fig. 3 is "a detail view or the'locking lever 'looking in the directionof the arrows-m'ofl ig. 1-.

Referring to the drawings in detail; each of the Jags is here shownfiforillustrative purposes',j.-

as having acasing 9 provided With a-side wa1l I0 which -is :here "sh-ownas being cylindrical.-

The upper edge of the side l wall m- 185 turned inwardly to provide anannular top men- .I I {from which is suspended'an inner walll'orkvesselll adapted to 1 receive food or other material. The

bottom I of :the casing is closed by a cap shape'd 1 closure memberhaving a top, wall [3 and a dependingrifiange of such fshape and size asto closely telesco pe into thellower end of the cylinthe lower edge of"a superimposed jug 'may rest and also so as to provide a slightlyreduced cylindrical or peripheral portionl 8 adapted to fit'in thelowerend depending-skirt of the superimposed jar so *that *the two jarswill' bef held against lateral movementwhen properly assembled. Thenumeral-'20 designates-generally a cover "for the receptacle, the samehaving a gasket "2| adapted to -'rest upon "the ibeaded or CuI'1edt0pfed'eOf the-vessel I 2. The cover ha's a knob 22; the upper end 23 ofwhich-is preferably'inthefformof acone.

"In "accordance with the presentinvention each I of the jug's isprovidedwith a handle-'25 which,

when inoperative position, exten(is-diametrically acrossthe-cover 20,andthis handle is'provided with spring means 'for holding the coversecurelyinfplace. .As here shown, thehandle Elicqing prises a -strip-ofmetal bowedupwardly at its centralportion-andhaving at one end a knuckle26. The other end of the handle is turned up slightly-so as-"to form -a"hook 21) The knuckle 26 receives *the upper bar of a rectangular link28 and the lower barof-wliich' is pivoted in a clip29 -welded orotherwise seeured'to the top wall L'II ofithe'casingt to one side of thevessel l2. Secured"to''this upper wall II-tothe other sideof"thevesse1*'l2-is-a clip 30 in' -which is pivoted 'adink =3I'adapted-tocooperate with the hooked end ofthehandle forsecuringthelatter t Y in 'place.- secured 'to the under side-of the han-j dle,'as"by meansiof rivets 32, and bridgingthebowed-portionof 'the' handle is aleaf spring 33 having at its intermediate portion a conical recess 34adapted 'to receive the 1 upper end of "the conical portion-i2-3 of 'theknob 22 when the handle is invplace." It awill becseen from the. drawin'gs'ithat when the 'haruile issin toperative i position;':the hookedrenhxzl of the ha ldlelis engaged beneath the upper cross bar of thelink 3| and the leaf spring 33 serves to maintain the cover in place andalso to resiliently hold the hooked end of the handle upwardly againstthe upper cross bar of the link 3| so that accidential displacement willnot take place. When it is desired to move the handle into an out of theway position, it is merely necessary to depress the handle sufficientlyto permit the link 3| to be thrown outwardly and then pivot the'handleabout its attached end.

In order that the containers or jars may be secured together insuperimposed or stacked refood of different sorts; for example, one maycontain'soup, another a stew, and a third coffee, etc. When it isdesired to remove one jug from the other, it is merely necessary to pullout the locking lever by means of the pull 46 and then lift the upperjug from the lower one.

It will be seen that our improved arrangement is a very simple andeffective one and that the lation, the depending annular flange or skirtof each container is provided at one side with a slot or opening 39 forthe reception of a laterally extending lug 40 on the top of the nextlower container, and pivotally connected to the skirt or flange at theother side is a locking lever 4| adapted to cooperate with a lockingplate or keeper 42 secured to the under sideot the handle at the pivotedend thereof. In the present illustrative disclosure, the lug is formed,

integrally with the clip 30.

The locking lever is loosely pivoted on a stud or rivet 43 carried bythe depending flange or skirt of the container immediately beneath arectangular opening 44 therein. The locking lever is referably formed ofsheet metal by suitable stamping and bending operations. It has a bodyportion 45 located externally of the skirt and vertically bridging theopening 44 therein. The lower end of this body portion is looselypivoted on the stud 43, and the upper end of the body portion has a pullor finger piece 46. Extending inwardly from the side edges of the bodyportion is a pair of wings 41, the inner edges 48 of which are curvedupwardly and inwardly so as to form cams. At the inner upper corners ofthe wings are cars or lugs 49 which are turned towards one another sothat their upper surfaces form a latching abutment which is adapted toengage under the protruding end of the keeper or locking plate 42. Thisplate is welded or otherwise secured to the pivoted end of the handleand is adapted to extend through the link 28 when the handle is inoperative position. For the purpose of normally urging the locking leverto latching position, a leaf spring 50 is provided. This spring, at itslower end, is anchored to the rivet 43. It extends upwardly between thewings 41 and adjacent its upper end engages the outwardly facing edgesof the lugsor ears 49.

With this arrangement, it will be seen the containers may be veryquickly and easily locked or secured together in superimposed relation,it being merely necessary to lower one of the containers over the top ofthe other one; engage the lug 40 in the slot 39 while the uppercontainer is slightly inclined with respect to the lower one, and thenswing the upper container to a vertical position. :When the uppercontainer is so swung, the cam edges 48 will engage the knuckle 26 ofthe handle and the outer edge of the locking plate 42 so that thelocking lever will be cammed outwardly and then when the upper containeris brought to final position, the spring 50 will automatically move thelocking lever to a position where the ears 49 are beneath the protrudingend of the locking plate 42. The superimposed ornested containers cannow be carried from place to place by means of the handle on theuppermost container. Any number of jugs may be connected in superimposedrelation and the several ,jugs may contain that parts may bemanufactured and assembled at a relatively low cost. The operations ofconnecting the jugs together and disconnecting them one from the othermay be very readily and quickly carried out.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and manyapparently widely difierent embodiments of this invention could be madewithout departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all mattercontained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawingsshall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in thefollowingclaims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features ofthe inand a latch carried by each skirt on the side opposite the slottherein and adapted to cooperate vention herein described and allstatements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language,might be said to fall therebetween.

We claim as our invention: 1 A plurality of food containers nested oneupon the other, each container having on its top a handle and the outerwall of each container adjacent its top having a slight inset to providea with the keeper on the handle of the next lower container for securingthe containers together, said latch being pivoted to said skirt formovement towards and away from the center thereof and. having anupwardly facing abutment adapted to engage beneath said keeper and camedges leading downwardly from the abutment and adapted to engage thekeeper during the operation of assembling one container upon the otherand a spring normally urging said latch inwardly to latching position.

2. A food container having at its top a handle, 2. lug on the. top ofthe container and extending towards one side thereof, a keeper carriedby the handle and extending towards the other side of the container,said container having at its bottom a depending skirt adapted to restupon and receive the top portion of another similar container whenplaced thereon, said skirt having at one side a slot adapted to receivealug on the top of a similar container, and a latch mounted in the wallof the skirt opposite said slot and movable towards andaway from thecenter of the container and havingan abutment adapted to engage beneaththe keeper on the handle of a similar container and a spring associatedwith the latch and normally urging the same into latching position.

HARRY M; BADGER. OSCAR M. ANDERSON.

